“Crackdown is one of my favorite games, and not just because it’s a Microsoft first-party game,” he told IGN “I have a lot of love for that franchise. The homage to Crackdown in the reveal screenshots was… I know there was some, like, ‘Did we accidentally sneak that…?’ It wasn’t accidental. Definitely.

“I don’t think Crackdown is dead at all. It’s a franchise that’s still close to me. I think there’s a lot of room, especially… for me, the natural progression for a game like Crackdown – and you see this showing up on our stage – is in these living, open worlds that live in the cloud.”

So there you have it. It’s not dead. It’s just resting. Or maybe pining for the fjords.